15.5 (25k) at the San Antonio Endurathon on Saturday. Not an outstanding performance. Totally aside from the fact that my glory days as a distance runner were 30 years ago, the air seemed to be full of pollen, there was a fairly stiff breeze and the course organizers had reversed the course this year so that there was a 7.5 mile stretch of fairly flat terrain followed by 8 miles of the innocuous-sounding 'rolling hills' at the end. The Hill Country should be renamed the Hell Country. Oh well. Just need to train harder and hope for a better outcome at the next race.

Thomas - While the hills above San Antonio are no treat, the courses around Atlanta (where I live) have their fair share of hills, heat, and humidity. Pulling me back to San Antonio (where I have friends and family) at least twice a year for races is the fact that (unlike Atlanta) the SA running club gets points in the plus column for (a) cheap entry fees, (b) good shirts, (c) beer and breakfast tacos as an incentive to finish.

^ well that will certainly put a fire under your ass won't it! sorry to hear about the ankle but does sound fun regardless. It was finally much nicer here today... sunny and close to 50F so I did about 4.5 outside this afternoon. Feeling great now.

Sounds wild sugarbutch. Fucking wild.
I am on my way to the Spanish Speaking world (Chile) come June and am looking forward to reporting some excellent running adventures.

Tonight 7 for me very slow. Also did core and some push ups/pull ups.

3rd pair of shoes in 3 days as I went to my storage locker on saturday to see if I had any old shoes that were in good shape.

Came home with some unused brooks Green Silence (worthless - it cant decide if its a trainer or a flat and isn't responsive enough for either)
Asics Speedstar 5 ( a decent shoe but very thick)
and
Mizuno Wave Riders (even more worthless than the others)

Moral of story - I will be picking up some new balance 890's tomorrow - my 4th pair I think. Its a boring shoe but never causes any problems.

Thomas - While the hills above San Antonio are no treat, the courses around Atlanta (where I live) have their fair share of hills, heat, and humidity. Pulling me back to San Antonio (where I have friends and family) at least twice a year for races is the fact that (unlike Atlanta) the SA running club gets points in the plus column for (a) cheap entry fees, (b) good shirts, (c) beer and breakfast tacos as an incentive to finish.

We have a little property in Comfort at the top of a hill, and it is a bitch to climb it and get home at the end of a run. Haven't been there in forever. But, yeah, from little I recall about Atlanta, it's not flat by any stretch - but I can't recall the weather. Since you mention cerveza and tacos, I'll probably pencil in a SA race, maybe the marathon (fall, right?)

...

today: 3 sets 3 x 300 / 100 recovery. Kinda started rough but held on and finished stronger than I'd expected. Signed up for March 3 marathon (woodlands). Wife disapproves but such is life.

Myles - I have had some problems with the Kinvara 2's I was running on (the toe box gets crushed in on my toes when I am running hard down hill/running hard - its not a size issue I just have weird feet)
so I figured I would go see what type of shoes I had in storage, because I know I have purchased 5-6 pairs that I have never really maxed out. Sadly I have like 4 pairs of racing flats, 2 XC shoes and some other crappy choices. I like the new balance 890 because the platform is still neutral despite having a decent amount of arch support. Usually shoes with arch bracing kick my stride sideways when I push off, which I am convinced has caused me some knee pains over the past 2 years (which clear up when I switch to a good shoe).

Back to the 890's for me.

Tonight I ran with a mild cold - 7 miles with 4 uptempo. Had to bag my plans for a workout because I didn't feel up to it. It made me feel better right away.